Unnecessary Life Stress (Is Always Your Best Friend's Fault)
by MapacheLuna
Summary: Rin just wanted to buy Ai a nice birthday present (that would MAYBE also let the cute omega know that he would make a good mate), but Sousuke's questionable life choices were bound to lead them both to an early grave before the party. There had to be something in the water in Iwatobi, he just knew it. (Part 1 of Unnecessary Life Stress Series)
1. Rin is a Goo-, an Okay Person

I know I should be finishing chapter four of "You Either Die a Hero..." (and I do have half of it written), but this idea wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down. This came to me after reading so many good A/B/O dynamic fics in the Free! fandom, that I just couldn't help myself but write a fluffy little silly piece myself.

This was supposed to be a oneshot, but it started getting longer, so I decided to divide it up. If everything works out, the last part should be up later today.

Special shout-out/fic recommendation section (on ArchiveOfOurOwn):

If you ship RinTori, I would definitely hands down say that you have to go read WordsandJank's series, "This is Letting Go." The first story is complete and there's a sequel being updated right now, but there are other ficlets in the series that are amazing too. Also has MakoHaru, ReiGisa, and SouMomo for your reading pleasure.

For the MakoHaru fans, ghostly's "This part of us will never change" changed my life, and I've read it about five times and it still doesn't get out. This one's complete.

 **Disclaimer:** I wish. That is all.

* * *

Rin narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the selection set out before him. It was absolutely critical that he make the right decision, yet he had never doubted his judgement more. The repercussions of the wrong choice could follow him for the rest of his high school career, and worse, brand him a laughing stock among alphas everywhere. No, he had to make-

"Just get him the strawberries with the white chocolate, maybe some sprinkles," Sousuke sighed. "The sweeter the better."

"I know that!" Rin snapped. "I'm just trying to make sure I pick the best ones!"

"Uh huh," Sousuke somehow managed to sound exactly like he was rolling his eyes without a single shift in his actual expression. "I don't think Aiichirou's suddenly going to hate you even if you give him something really lame," he shrugged. "He'll probably just be grateful you got him anything at all."

"That doesn't mean he doesn't deserve something great," Rin huffed. "Besides," he scratched at his cheek and glared at the dipped cherries, "I didn't get him anything last year, so..."

"So you feel guilty," Rin scowled at the knowing nod he got in return.

"Yeah, a little," he pointed sharply at the white chocolate dipped strawberries with sprinkles behind the glass, glaring at the beta behind the counter when he snickered. "But I also want to, you know, make him, uh, I mean, show him, or, actually-,"

"You want him to consider you as a mate," Sousuke finished dryly, chuckling when Rin sputtered. "It's not exactly a secret. There's a betting pool."

"What?" Rin snapped around to stare at him. "For what?"

"For when you'll finally snap and throw him over your shoulder," Sousuke actually rolled his eyes this time, dodging the balled up tissue paper Rin threw at him. "Iwatobi's blond terror started it."

"Figures," Rin shook his head, handing his card to the cashier with a wince. This boutique was tiny but well-known, and they toted only the best imported ingredients for their treats, so those strawberries were actually putting a sizable dent in his savings. "Makoto didn't try to stop him?"

"He tried, but ended up placing a few thousand yen for the beginning of February," Sousuke was eyeing the waves of gold-tinted tissue paper going into the packaging with the same wariness Rin was feeling. "You know, I was being serious when I said he'll be happy with anything you give him. He's only waiting for you to ask the question."

"You can't know that for sure," Rin shook his head resolutely, accepting the dainty little bag with a crinkled nose as the super-saturated scent of sugar hit him. "Besides, this," he shook the bag a little, "is traditional."

It had reportedly begun as a less savage way of competing for mates way back when people started moving out of the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and into settlements, in order to keep the number of alphas in the tribes from dwindling too dramatically. Instead of challenging any competition to a bloody fight, all the interested alphas would present the omega in question with a series of gifts, each one meant to demonstrate how capable they would be at providing food, shelter, and happiness.

Nowadays, it had turned into a tradition of sorts for a pretending mate to present their intended with three symbolic gifts that still harkened back to those primitive times. They usually manifested as food, a housewarming gift, and a gift that reflected how much they knew the person they were courting. It had also been adapted outside of strict alpha-omega relationships and into the courting behavior of any intended pair, despite presentation.

It had become a little silly truth be told, as freshly presenting middle schoolers and even some primary students stumbled over giving classmates they thought were cute little tokens of candy, funny candles, and sloppily drawn favorite animals at a whim, but it was usually assumed that high schoolers who engaged in the behavior were a little more serious in their pursuits.

Sure, Rin and Ai had shared food before, but this gift was much more pointed in its presentation; there was no way Ai could mistake it for anything other than what it was. He hoped.

"I think you're putting too much thought into this," Sousuke interrupted Rin's musings. "It's not as complicated as you're making it out to be. You like him, he likes you, what's there to overthink?" He ended with a dismissive shrug, a grimace briefly painting his features before fading away just as quickly, but not nearly quick enough to escape Rin's eyes.

"Oi,-" he started before Sousuke interrupted him.

"Didn't you say you wanted to get Aiichirou a fitness tracker too?" He jerked his head to the left. "Let's go, I still need to buy him something too."

Rin frowned. Sousuke had good days and bad days with his shoulder, and although he was usually pretty good about letting them know when it hurt, Rin was sure that he severely underplayed the extent of his pain. There would be days when he would absolutely reek of the metallic, bitter scent of suffering, but would just grin and tell them it was just "acting up a little."

It drove Rin absolutely crazy; it was bad enough that they had to put up with St. Tachibana and his eternal martyrdom, getting the same responses from his best friend was just icing on the cake.

But Rin could pick his battles (sometimes) and right now Sousuke was holding himself with all the self-righteousness of an alpha preparing for a confrontation. No, he couldn't be reasoned with like this, no alpha could be when they were a mess of hormones, instincts, and the need to defend. And now, as if Rin needed more convincing, one specific, frankly terrifying memory from last month was itching to burst forward...

Nope, that would be a conversation -with a therapist- for another day.

Rin heaved a great shoulder-shaking sigh before grabbing Sousuke's sleeve and giving him a yank in the opposite direction. "The sports store is this way, you idiot."

"Ah," Sousuke nodded shortly, "Right," and then he started walking off like nothing had happened.

Rin snorted and rolled his eyes. Typical.

He jogged after Sousuke, glancing at him from the corner of his eye. That invasive memory, while traumatizing, did remind him of something that he had wanted to bring up to Sousuke for a while. "Oi, like you're one to talk about 'uncomplicated things,'" he half-heartedly made some air-quotes. "What exactly are _you_ playing at?"

Sousuke arched an eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about?"

Rin rolled his eyes again, this time actually feeling some twinges of pain. He'd have to ask Rei about that later. "You and Momo. Where are you going with that?"

"Oh, that," Sousuke looked ahead again, and after a pause he continued. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Rin almost slammed into a woman with a baby carriage. " _What the hell-?_ You know exactly what I'm talking about!"

"No idea," Sousuke deadpanned, jerking his thumb to the side. "We're here."

"Don't try to change the subject!" Rin snapped, trailing him into the store. "Momo's been all over you the entire term and you haven't chased him off like all the others," He narrowed his eyes at the taller alpha over the rack of running shorts he'd put between them. "Hell, I'd even say you're encouraging him."

Rin could see people in the periphery giving them weird looks, and honestly, he couldn't blame them. Two alphas arguing about an unknown person could very well be the lead up to a full-out possessive brawl, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

Momo had been flighty at the beginning, bouncing from cute girl to cute boy like a pinball, and for a while, it had seemed like that was all he wanted to do, and Rin could respect that. Sure, Momo was an omega and a pretty cute one if you were into firecrackers and mayhem, but that didn't mean he had to be hunting for a mate just because he was of age for it. He was a sixteen year old boy; there was nothing harmful about him flirting a little if he wanted to. It was the only reason Rin didn't actually kill him when he got all up in Gou's space every chance he could. That, and he knew his beta sister was a ferocious thing when she wanted to be and didn't actually need much saving, but it was the principle of the matter.

But then after a while he seemed to be focusing more and more of his time on Sousuke. He would start bringing Sousuke snacks after swim practice, treats that Rin was more than sure were homemade because they looked like a mess; lopsided onigiri and lumpy mochi alike. He would stand closer than usual to Sousuke and just stare as he chattered at him, a completely enthralled expression on his face the entire time. Rin had even seen him drop out in the middle of a conversation with somebody just to run across the campus to say "'hi' to Sousuke-senpai."

All that by itself wasn't any reason for Rin to concern himself. His best friend was a catch as far as alphas went, even he knew that, and an omega especially would be very aware of that. He was big and strong, he had a protective streak a mile long, he could cook damn well, and he wasn't irritated by anything anyone threw his way. Momo would have had to been dead not to notice and given how direct he was, Rin wasn't surprised that he would try to flirt with him. It was the way his best friend responded that threw the redheaded alpha for a loop.

Sousuke was no stranger to propositions. Just within the first month of enrolling at Samezuka, he had been stumbling into their room on a daily basis, grumbling about how "completely shameless the boys at a boarding school could be" after fending off omegas and betas alike just trying to get to the vending machines. Rin had just laughed at him and made himself responsible for the snack runs (he could remember what it was like being fresh meat at Samezuka after all).

It had petered off after a while, plateauing once people seemed to realize that he wasn't interested in pursuing house-making so much as an athletic career. People tended to steer clear of the athletes on campus; there was an impression that they couldn't be trusted to put any real effort into a relationship if all they were doing was focusing on bettering themselves, which Rin frankly thought was stupid as all hell, but hey, it got people off his own back the year prior, so who was he to complain.

The point was, that Sousuke had showed exactly zero interest in anyone in any manner that could have possibly been conceived as attraction, to the point that Rin had started suspecting that maybe he fell onto the weird hydrosexual spectrum that Haru seemed to have going for him. The only excitement that he ever smelt on him was when they were at practice, after all.

Then he had found out about his shoulder, and some things fell further into place. Sousuke didn't say it, but Rin could sense that he didn't think he would make a good mate because he was injured. He thought he was a defective alpha or some shit like that just because he had a torn rotator cuff, like possibly being unable to swim professionally suddenly cancelled out everything else he had going for him that made people care about him and let him care about people. It made Rin want to beat him up honestly, but it made _sense_. Him letting _Momo_ dote on him was confusing, but could also be chalked up to a bad day or a concussion or something, if it only happened every once in a while. Him apparently reciprocating strictly fell under the category of things that made _no sense at all_.

He would accept Momo's food and actually eat it, chewing thoughtfully before thanking him and complimenting him, making the smaller boy beam so brightly that it actually hurt Rin's eyes. Rin had walked by once while Momo was chatting up a storm and actually caught Sousuke responding to him, proving that he was actually _listening_ to him, not just humoring him. Hell, when Momo dashed after him, he would stop and let him catch up, not flinching when he threw his arms around him, but wrapping the omega up tightly in his own arms as well.

Rin had been completely thrown for a loop the day that he had walked into their room and smelt Momo's scent all over the place, only to find the self-proclaimed Sea of Japan's Otter himself napping on Sousuke's bed while Sousuke nonchalantly did his homework at his desk, only getting a "he was tired and Aiichirou kicked him out earlier" as a response to his flailing and sputtering. It had become such a regular thing that Rin actually found himself feeling unsettled when the spicy lingering smell began to fade; it had become _that much_ a part of their room.

Sousuke didn't lead people on; he was straightforward with what he wanted and what he expected, to the point where he could come across as proud and even rude, so Rin knew that he wasn't just messing with Momo. Which meant that he was actually considering this, this, _whatever_ he and Momo were doing.

Which led to him now, dogging his best friend's every step as he wandered around the admittedly large sports store.

"The fitness trackers are that way," Sousuke pointed behind him without taking his eyes off the rack of goggles he was standing in front of.

"No, actually they're that way," Rin pointed further ahead where he could see them on a shelf. "But I'm not moving until you answer my question, damn it!"

Sousuke sighed and spared him a glance over his shoulder. "What question?"

Rin felt his eye twitch. "What is going on between you and Momo, dumbass!"

"What are you, my mother?" Rin could _hear_ Sousuke rolling his eyes again. "What do _you_ think is going on?"

"I think he's courting you, and you're letting him." There, it was out in the open. Nothing beat the direct approach.

"Yeah, sounds about right." It took Rin a beat to realize what Sousuke had said, but once he did, he promptly choked on his own spit.

" _What?!_ " That came out a little too high-pitched but he couldn't be damned to care. "What do you mean, _'that sounds about right,'_?"

"It means what it sounds like," Sousuke was just staring at him coolly, like he hadn't just unleashed some of the most dramatic news Rin had received in maybe the last three months.

"You're telling me that this entire time, you've been letting Mikoshiba Momotarou court you because you actually want him to," Rin asked.

Sousuke shrugged. "Yeah."

"As in, you want him the same way he wants you," There was distinctly whiny pitch to Rin's voice by now.

"Yeah," Sousuke's brows were climbing up to his hairline, "That's generally what that means." Rin could see his lips starting to twitch; the fucker actually thought this was funny.

"Momo, as in, the little omega brother of Mikoshiba Seijurou."

"Do you know any other Momos?" Rin could _smell_ the amusement now.

"Last question," Rin ignored the mutter of " _I doubt it"_ and pushed forward, "Are you fucking insane?"

Sousuke was completely undeterred by the hysterical note in his voice. "Not as far as I know, no."

"Then do you have a death wish?!" People were steering clear of their aisle by now.

Sousuke scoffed. "I have to have a death wish to be attracted to Momo?" Rin could feel his skin crawling at actually hearing him say it aloud. "Or do I have to have a death wish to still want a mate?"

"Cut that shit out, you know that's not what I meant," Rin snapped, rubbing at his neck with his free hand, the little bag still swinging cheerfully from the other. The last thing he needed was Sousuke getting all alpha-defensive on him again. "I'm more hung up on the part where he's _Mikoshiba Seijurou's brother_. You know, the same guy that almost tossed a guy out a window just because he looked at his little brother's legs during a swim meet?"

Sousuke at least had the decency to look uncomfortable at the reminder, although his expression steeled over almost immediately. "He deserved it. He catcalled at a scent-marked omega." He continued over Rin's groan, "And don't act like you weren't getting ready to round up Makoto and Ryugazaki for a reign of terror on the guy either."

Rin crossed his arms, unimpressed. "Yeah, as if we would have been able to beat you there." Sousuke could only offer him a shrug in response. "So that's it, that's all you have to say: 'So what if Mikoshiba almost committed a murder because someone looked at his omega brother, he deserved it'?" When Sousuke didn't offer him any response he went on. "What do you even see in the squirt?" He was actually genuinely curious about that one. Again, Momo was cute and he could see how the boundless energy could be endearing or something, but he didn't think it was worth risking death for.

Sousuke's lips turned up in a small smile. "I'm not really sure myself. There's something about how happy and excitable he is that's pretty attractive." His smile grew larger. "And at the same time, he's a mess and a giant geek, trying so hard to be cool while spouting nonsense about stag beetles and the mating habits of stick insects. And he's always so invested in what's going on _around_ him that he can't focus on what _he's_ doing, so he ends up running into things all the time, but it's just because he doesn't want to miss out on _anything_ ," He paused to take a breathe. "And his red bean mochi is actually really good too."

Rin was openly gaping at Sousuke by the end of his little speech. Not only was that possibly the most he had _ever_ heard Sousuke say in one breathe, but he had been speaking the entire time with a dazed, stupidly besotted look on his face that Rin was intimately familiar with after growing up looking at it on Makoto's face.

"You're gone for this kid, aren't you," it wasn't a real question, but Sousuke seemed to think it over before nodding anyway.

"Yeah, I guess I am," his grin matched the happy, calm smell that he was emitting as he wandered off again, leaving Rin to stare dumbly at the goggle stand he had been standing in front of.

Rin could understand attraction, hell, he was in the middle of trying to court Ai himself, but he just couldn't understand where the appeal for crazy omegas in this damn town came from. He obviously didn't suffer from it; Ai was a sound and _sane_ omega, and while he was a little messy and disorganized and strangely passionate about weird things like morning glory flowers, he wasn't completely off the wall eccentric like what every alpha around him seemed to like.

Haru was an utter basket-case who hardly emoted and only got it up for water and mackerel, yet Makoto worshiped the ground he walked on and literally trailed after him like a lost puppy, speaking for him and taking care of him like he had been born to do nothing else. Rei was wrapped around Nagisa's little finger so tightly, that he was pretty sure he could hear the faint sound of a whip slashing through the air every time the manipulative little blond batted his eyelashes. And now Sousuke was apparently getting serious about Momo, the same Momo who liked to burst into their room at four in the morning to tell them about whatever "cool dream" he had just had and liked to hang upside down from his bunk because it helped him "mastermind."

Maybe it had less to do with the omega in question and more to do with the alpha though, since Mikoshiba flirted shamelessly with his sister and THAT was a death wish all by itself, since Gou could crush a man's self-worth and balls beneath her shoe just for the hell of it, all the while keeping a peaceful grin on her face.

It had to be something in the water in Iwatobi, Rin decided as he finally made it to the fitness trackers. There could be no other reason for the fact that perfectly reasonable, strong, and genuinely _good_ alphas could look at batshit crazy omegas (and his sister) and think to themselves, "Yes, that's who I want to spend the rest of my life with. That weirdo trying to dive into a lobster tank is what I want for myself." Yeah, Makoto, Mikoshiba, and Sousuke were obviously suffering from some sort of brain damage brought on by whatever weird shit was in the water in this town. As for Rei, well, they all knew he had been doomed the very second Nagisa set his eyes on him. At this point, all he could do was keep him in his thoughts.

"Yeah," he muttered to himself, "Not drinking anything but bottled water from here on out."

* * *

Rin had just finished narrowing his choices down to a pretty silver and blue accented tracker and a much sleeker but less all-encompassing one when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle right before the scent hit him.

"Matsuoka!"

He managed to turn around just in time to receive the overly enthusiastic shoulder claps and the manic grin full in the face.

"Buchou!" Rin blinked rapidly, trying to get the far too up-close and personal view of his former captain into focus. "Too close," he huffed pushing him away. Unsurprisingly, Mikoshiba only laughed in response.

"What a surprise to see you here!" He roared happily, completely indifferent to the reproachful looks he was getting from the middle-aged mothers near the yoga mats.

For his part, Rin just arched a brow. "It's the sports store, not much of a surprise here…"

The bigger alpha just laughed again. "Sure, sure." He took a moment to size him up, eyes zeroing on the golden script on the little bag dangling from his wrist. "Didn't take you for a decadent desserts type, Matsuoka."

Rin looked away. "It's not for me," he muttered under his breathe, moving to rub his neck before stopping once he realized he was still holding the silver fitness tracker. Mikoshiba didn't miss a single thing, narrowing his eyes and scrunching his lips up in a manner that hysterically reminded Rin of Momo when he was doing his Japanese lit homework.

Rin could practically see the gears turning in his head before his expression brightened. "You're finally courting Nitori then? About time!" He gave him a healthy slap on the back that made Rin taste his breakfast again. "Congratulations!"

"Does everyone seriously know already?" Rin groused, trying to skirt around the older male. It wasn't that he was afraid or anything like that; he just liked to think that he had a healthy, functional survival instinct, and right now the memory of Mikoshiba flipping out at the last tournament was still way too fresh in his mind. The fact that the redhead in front of him with his bright yellow eyes and wide, proud grin looked nothing like the fire and brimstone demon that he remembered only made him that much more wary.

"Only anyone with functional eyes and noses," Mikoshiba ribbed good-humoredly, before clasping him on the shoulder again, to Rin's eternal irritation. "It's a good thing that I ran into you though, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about." His expression settled into something closely resembling seriousness almost instantaneously.

Rin couldn't help but desperately try to think of anything that he could have done in the last month to piss off the former Samezuka captain. He knew he wasn't skimping on his captain responsibilities, especially with Ai and Sousuke helping him out, and Momo had still been in one overly cheerful piece the last time he had seen him, so it couldn't be that. Oh God, _Momo_. Did he know…?

"Uh, and what would that be?" Rin asked, hoping he could successfully pass off the harshness of his tone as irritation rather than a slow-mounting panic.

"It's about Gou-kun," Mikoshiba took back his hand in order to run it through his hair, and was he actually blushing?

"What about Gou?" Rin narrowed his eyes as Mikoshiba actually scuffed his sneakered foot against the floor, a sheepish smile on his face.

"I've been meaning to ask for your formal permission to court her."

Rin choked on his saliva for the second time in the same day. " _What?_ "

"I want to court Gou-kun," Mikoshiba seemed to gain more conviction the more he said it, his eyes blazing with determination the likes of which Rin had only seen before in tournaments.

" _Why_?" He couldn't help but blurt out. "You know she's not an omega, right? You don't need my permission." It was another tradition leftover from older times -this time the Victorian era, - that a pretending alpha would need the approval of the eldest alpha in the household of his intended before he could proceed with the courting. Since Rin and Gou's mother was a beta, that meant it fell to Rin to be the officiator, but Gou was a beta too; she didn't need his seal of approval to do anything, not since she came of age. "She'll rip you to shreds," he couldn't help but add.

"I know," Mikoshiba flashed him a wide, white grin. "It's why I like her so much."

There was _definitely_ something in the water in Iwatobi.

Rin managed to get his bearings back into some semblance of order to answer. "So why are you bothering to ask _me_? Just go for it," he shrugged. "It's your funeral." He managed to dodge the next shoulder clasp successfully, but Mikoshiba's cheeriness was undeterred.

"I know I don't _need_ your permission," he started. "But I would like it. I think it's only right to let you know what my intentions are with regards to your sister."

"Oi, what's all this talk about 'intentions,'" Rin grumbled. "You're going to _try_ to court my sister, not propose to her. She's the one who decides if you're worth her time or not."

"I know it sounds a little outdated," Mikoshiba shrugged, "But I think it's a matter of respect between fellow alphas." He paused. "After all, I know that _I_ would like to know if some alpha was making moves on Momotarou."

Shit. _Shit._ SHIT. He knew. Rin didn't know how he had found out, but he _knew_. That was way too pointed to mean anything than what it did.

"Oh?" Rin hoped he sounded much more casual than he felt. Thankfully, the older redhead didn't need much encouragement.

"You know how it can be, Matsuoka," his mouth settled into an unsettling flat line. "When alphas think that just because they're at the top of the food chain they can say or do whatever they want to others. _Especially_ to omegas. Momo is young and impulsive," - _pot calling the kettle black much?_ Rin couldn't help but think- "He won't always think twice before giving someone a chance," He huffed a bark of laughter. "He doesn't act like an omega, but that doesn't mean alphas won't notice that he is one."

He straightened up to his full height, eyes grim. "I wouldn't want _anyone_ to think that they can get to my brother without going through me first."

Rin had entered the sort of headspace that he had only read about, but never experienced personally. He was present and he could still hear Mikoshiba and see him, but his mind was running a hundred kilometers an hour, in the opposite direction, screaming to the tune of every single self-preservation alarm blaring in his head.

He believed it was called a posttraumatic stress episode.

Unbidden, he was hit full-force with the memory of the last tournament. It had been a non-classifying tournament, a friendly scrimmage more than anything else, in a neighboring school district, and Rin had entered Samezuka more so as a means of keeping the team on their toes than any other pressing need. He had even let Gou know with plenty of time so she could whip the Iwatobi guys into shape in time for it.

Everyone had been enthusiastic about it, and with good reason. Ai's times had been at the top of the charts, so he was a shoe-in for his preferred event against Nagisa, and Momo couldn't stop going on and on about how he was finally going to "leave Tachibana-san eating his bubbles." Sousuke had even agreed to tag along, so it had been shaping up to be an even better outing than Rin had expected.

And it had been, at the beginning. Mikoshiba had showed up, but Rin had long stopped asking questions about his university schedule and had accepted his presence as a given. His first mistake had apparently been not locking Mikoshiba in the bus and tossing away the key. His second, he would later realize, had been not explicitly scent-marking everyone before letting them loose into the pool area.

It had been an annoying habit of Mikoshiba's as captain to scent-mark all the swimmers before even letting them onto the bus for their competitions. It helped, Rin knew, to distinguish them as _pack_ and to warn wayward hands that every single one of them was accounted for and had an alpha looking out for them. As a fellow alpha though, it had seen redundant and frankly pretty embarrassing to have to put up with his captain chinning him like a pup and rubbing necks with him every single time, especially when they all spent so much time around each other already, that they all carried the lingering scent anyway. So he didn't do it with as much frequency as his predecessor, and for this late year non-compulsory event it had completely slipped his mind.

He hadn't considered that the faint scents they all carried would be overpowered by the scents of all the other bodies present and the chlorine. Thus, second mistake.

He and Rei had gone first in the butterfly event, and he remembered noting with pride that while he had come in first, Rei had come in third, barely missing the second place spot by milliseconds.

"Oi, Rei!" He had slapped him on the back hard enough to almost launch him back into the pool. "You've been keeping up with practice, haven't you?"

"Ah, of course, Rin-san," Rei had made the aborted motion to push up his glasses before remembering that he had just been wearing goggles. "I've gotten a membership at the Iwatobi Swim Club," He had smiled wryly. "We all did. Haruka-senpai would have insisted on using the school pool otherwise."

"I bet," Rin had snorted, taking the moment to look for the black-haired omega in the sea of faces around them. Once he spotted him trailing after Makoto with Nagisa, he had taken his leave to wander back to his own team, mostly to make sure Sousuke hadn't managed to lose anyone or himself yet.

He had been pleasantly surprised to find Sousuke right where he had left him, underneath the stands and to the left with their scattering of team members all accounted for. The surprise must have shown on his face because he had been greeted with an eye roll and a "Shut up" before he even got to open his mouth.

"What, I can't bask in the presence of a miracle?" Rin had snickered at Sousuke's irritated grumbling, taking further joy when Ai's tinkling laugh joined in. It was always a good day when he was the one who managed to put that expression of mirth on Ai's face.

After getting himself somewhat under control he had realized that it sounded like Momo's own laughter was coming from Sousuke's jacket because the omega was practically inside it too, curled into Sousuke's side with one of the open ends between his hands. Sousuke had met his questioning look with an impassive stare right back, until Rin had ultimately cut his losses and shrugged it off as another weird Momo flirting thing.

"Momo," he jerked his thumb behind him towards the pool. "You're up. Go kick Makoto's ass."

"Yes sir, senpai sir!" Momo had surprised him when he didn't immediately run off, but instead bumped his head gently -for him anyway- under Sousuke's chin before saluting Rin with an over the top manic grin. "Tachibana-san won't know what hit him!"

"Good," Rin had shaken his head with a grin. "Get to it, then." Rin had noticed that Momo did smell moderately more strongly of Sousuke than he did anyone else, but that disappeared pretty quickly once he was out of arm's reach. That had been around the point when he realized he hadn't scent-marked the team recently.

Too little, too late, because it was at that exact moment that he heard a low whistle followed by, "Damn baby, look at those legs. You doing anything tonight?"

Realistically, Rin knew that the arena hadn't _actually_ fallen quiet and that honestly, while loud, probably not that many people had actually overheard the comment, but it sure had felt that way. The team had immediately fallen silent, and Ai's quiet gasp had rang like a shotgun to his ears. Up ahead, Momo had frozen in mid-stride with his back still to them, but gauging by Makoto's scandalized expression, he probably didn't have a very flattered expression on his face.

In the split seconds before everything had truly gone to hell, Rin had physically felt his body flood with adrenaline, testosterone, and the need to defend _his_ pack. He had immediately narrowed in on the culprit, a pretty-faced slim brunet with one of the lesser-known schools, probably a second year judging by his height and build, definitely not a _real_ threat to Momo, but reason had no space in his mind at the time. Right now, he just needed to show him _his place_ , and that place was far, FAR away from any member of HIS pack.

He had noticed Makoto practically launching himself out of the pool, an actually scary expression on his face -it would go on to get pretty high on the list of "Reasons why I need therapy after this day"- and Rei tossing his towel onto the ground before marching forward as well, an alarmingly cold expression on his face as he peeled Nagisa's fingers off his bicep. Nagisa had looked horrified, while even Haru looked on with wide eyes and a pretty ashen face.

In hindsight, he shouldn't have felt so indignant about Nagisa and Haru's reluctance. As much as Haru liked to go on about "only swimming free" and not "tying himself to a pack" and Nagisa liked to flit around between people and groups, The Iwatobi Swim Team _was_ a pack, albeit, a very small one. They were a pack of about five or seven, if Coach Sasabe and Amakata-sensei could be counted, but they only had two alphas, and right in that moment, Haru and Nagisa had been watching them run off to fight a territorial battle on the behalf of another omega, for another pack. Rin had felt suitably guilty for his less than charitable thoughts later, but at the moment he had only felt a rush of vindictive pleasure that he had managed to accrue the loyalty of another pack's alphas to the point where they would abandon their own omegas to fight with him.

Before he could even take another step though, Sousuke had flown ahead of him, only leaving behind an absolutely overwhelming scent of palpable rage. The smell of it had immediately filled the back of Rin's throat, flooding his mouth with the taste of steel and ozone. Rin had had the soundness of mind to pity the poor fucker for a beat before the shit actually hit the fan.

If Sousuke had flown, then Mikoshiba must have fucking teleported, because Rin _knew_ he had been in the stands roaring good-naturedly during his own match, but now he was hauling the hapless catcaller up by the goggles around his neck.

" _What_ did you say to my brother?" The scent of his anger had flooded the arena almost instantaneously, and it had caused sweat to break out on the back of Rin's neck. If Sousuke's rage had been a thunderstorm, then Mikoshiba's was a raging inferno. It had been overbearing, hot, and oppressive, bearing down on Rin to the point that he wanted to bare his neck just on instinct. Up ahead, Makoto and Rei had stopped in their tracks and behind him, he could hear the team shifting uncomfortably as well. The only one who had been somewhat undeterred had been Sousuke, who had only faltered in his steps for a beat before continuing to Momo's side, pulling him behind him in one yank. Rin had been slightly impressed that he could stand to be that close to Mikoshiba, because at that moment, just being at the same floor level felt too close for comfort.

The alpha in his hold could only gape unattractively, face rapidly paling. "I, uh, uh-,"

"Do you do this to every omega you see?" Mikoshiba's voice had been like lava, flowing and unstoppable, demolishing everything in its wake. "Do you think you can get away with this shit just because you're an alpha?" When the other boy had only continued to tremble in his hold, Mikoshiba had lifted him clear off the ground, bringing him nose to nose with him. Behind him, Rin had heard a faint " _holy shit"_ that he was sure had come from Kazuki. "Well? Answer me!" He had continued to glare down at the sweaty face in his hold before snarling, eyes wild. "People like you make me sick. You don't deserve to be called an alpha."

Rin had just begun to wonder if the second-year was actually going to piss himself when Momo had poked his head around Sousuke's bulk. "Geez, Nii-chan, stop being so dramatic. You're embarrassing me." Rin couldn't help but gape at Momo's whiny tone.

"Scum like this deserves to be taught a lesson, Momotarou," Mikoshiba hadn't budged a single muscle, the smaller alpha dangling helpless from his meaty grasp. "Maybe out a window."

"Yeah, maybe," Momo had shrugged nonchalantly, as if security personnel hadn't begun to edge around them, obviously looking for an opening to tackle Mikoshiba to the ground if he made any sudden movements. "But not during a meet; you're going to get us disqualified! Besides," he had huffed, hands finding their way up Sousuke's arm, "I'm fine. Sousuke-senpai and Rin-senpai won't let anything happen to me. You do this all the time."

Rin had had a rare lucid thought that if he didn't get over there right in that second, then there was a very real possibility that Sousuke's neck was going to be on the line just because he was the sole overwhelming alpha scent all over Momo at the moment. He had hurried over, making sure to rub his hand wrist first into Momo's hair, letting his own scent mix with Sousuke's. "He's okay, Buchou," he had managed through gritted teeth. He really didn't know how Sousuke had been managing this, being this close felt like trying to breathe through molasses. "You can check for yourself, just let the damn kid down."

There was a beat where he had been sure Mikoshiba was actually going to carry through with his threat to find a window to toss him out of before he opened his fists, letting the brunet crumble into a sweaty, trembling pile at his feet. "Tch, pathetic," he had growled before turning on his heel and marching to where Rin and Sousuke were flanking Momo. He had yanked Momo into his arms, rubbing his chin roughly onto this head, not giving any indication that he noticed Sousuke's prevailing scent or the weakness of Rin's. "You okay, Momo?"

"I told you, I'm fine, Nii-chan," For all of his grousing, Momo had just happily head-butted his brother right back on the chin. "You better not have gotten my match cancelled; I was going to beat Tachibana-san!"

"Well, let's go see then," he had slung his arm around Momo's shoulders, pausing just long enough to toss a nod in Rin and Sousuke's direction. "Thanks, Yamazaki, Matsuoka," and then he had ambled off towards the pool, the lingering scent of his anger dissipating like smoke in his wake.

Up ahead, Rin could see that Makoto and Rei had made their way back to their team's side as well, Nagisa crawling up Rei, practically slamming into his chin and rubbing his own chin all over his shoulder. Haru had just burrowed himself under Makoto's chin, rubbing his face firmly into his scent glands, scent-marking himself. Possessive little shit.

He had heard a deep sigh coming from his side, and had turned his attention back to Sousuke. Up close, he could see the tightness around his eyes and the sweat running down his temples. Seemed that Sousuke hadn't been as unaffected as he had thought. Sousuke caught his eye and offered him a grin. "That was something, wasn't it?"

Rin could only glare at him, running a hand down his face aggressively. "I'm going to need therapy after this."

"Not as much as that guy, though," Ai had piped up suddenly from next to his elbow, jerking his chin at the where the fallen alpha was being helped to his shaky feet by his teammates. "Mikoshiba-buchou is scarier than I remember."

Rin had snorted, bringing Ai closer so he could calm himself down with the omega's soothing scent. "Yeah, I'd hate to see what will happen the day some poor sucker actually tries to court Momo."

Sousuke had been silent at that, suspiciously silent, his mind reminded him hysterically in the present as he stared back at Mikoshiba in all his six foot two glory. He managed a nonchalant snort, casting his eyes stealthily around the store. "I don't think anyone would ever entertain the thought, Buchou," he said as dryly as he could.

Mikoshiba just looked at him earnestly. "But you understand where I'm coming from don't you, Matsuoka?" He pushed. "I want to keep Momo safe, but it's hard when he's at Samezuka all the time." He shrugged a little helplessly. "My scent doesn't stick to him for long anymore, not like when he was a little kid."

Under different circumstances Rin was sure he would have found Mikoshiba's brotherly angst adorable and endearing, but right at that moment he was still reeling from reliving the trauma of the last tournament and to add to his mounting horror, he could see Sousuke approaching over Mikoshiba's shoulder. Sousuke who was not only an alpha, but an alpha who positively reeked of Momo twenty-four hours, seven days a week nowadays. He sent a quick prayer of thanks to God that the air in the store was stagnant and that there was no breeze to blow Sousuke's scent their way, and then proceeded to try to tap into his thereunto unknown telepathic powers to try to make Sousuke aware of The Situation.

God must have been taking pity on him today because Sousuke paused at Rin's frantic eye darting, looked at the back of Mikoshiba's head, put two and two together, and smoothly turned on his heel and walked right out of the store, the oldest alpha nonethewiser. Rin took a moment to mourn how long it was going to take to find him once he got out of this mess before focusing back on his former captain's distressed face. "I hear you, Buchou," he pushed his bangs back with the back of his hand, suddenly feeling exhausted. "I worry about Gou when she's at Iwatobi too, but I trust the guys to look out for her."

Mikoshiba was nodding. "I knew you'd understand me," He blindsided him with a sudden one-armed hug. "That's why I trusted you with the team. And with my little brother." He pulled back to look him dead in the eyes again. Rin started sweating. After a beat of very uncomfortable staring where Rin was _sure_ Mikoshiba was somehow reading his mind and seeing every single dirty little secret he had, he finally got a blinding smile for his efforts.

"Good talk, Matsuoka!" Mikoshiba laughed and slapped him on the back one more time, dislodging a lung in the process. "We should do this more often!" He started walking off, casting a wave over his shoulder. "See you later!"

Once he was out of sight, Rin collapsed against the rack behind him. He didn't deserve this; he was a goo-, well, an okay person. Most of the time. He really didn't deserve this. He made to run his hand through his hair when he noticed the tracker still clenched tightly in his hand. Well, silver and blue _were_ Ai's colors; this one would complement his hair and eyes beautifully.

He made his way to the cashier. That, and getting out of there as soon as possible wouldn't hurt either.

* * *

He actually found Sousuke in the cute little outlet store across from the sports store, so he sent another prayer of thanks to the heavens for that one. He was briefly tempted to take a picture of his giant best friend among all the fluffy stuffed animals and suffocating frilliness, but he was honestly too wound up to bother.

Sousuke for his part just looked up from his perusal of animal-shaped hats and blinked at his sweaty and wide-eyed form. "Yo."

"Yo?" Rin echoed back. "I hope you're happy. That," he jerked his thumb roughly over his shoulder, "Was traumatizing on so many levels."

Sousuke cast his gaze lazily up and down. "You look fine to me. What did he want?"

Rin wrinkled his nose. "He wanted to ask for my permission to court Gou, actually."

Sousuke's eyebrows went up. "Did you give it to him?"

He doesn't need my permission, Gou's a beta," Rin rolled his eyes. "But then he started going on about 'honor between alphas' and wanting to know when any alpha was going to move in on Momo so he could stare him down."

"Oh."

"Yes, 'oh,'" Rin snapped, taking sadistic glee in Sousuke's mounting discomfort.

Sousuke shifted on his feet. "So, what did you tell him?"

"What do you think I told him, dumbass," Rin growled. "Nothing, obviously."

Sousuke had the gall to visibly relax again, gathering up his items and walking away. "So what's the problem then?"

"'What's the problem?'" Rin trailed after him. "The problem is that you're a dead man walking, and you don't care!"

"You're being dramatic. Mikoshiba wouldn't actually kill me," Sousuke sounded so sure of himself, bless his soul.

"Were you actually there when he went all alpha on that kid last month?" Rin glared. "Of course he'd kill you. He'd probably mount your head on his mantelpiece as a warning to others."

Sousuke and the cashier both grimaced at him, like _he_ was being the unreasonable one. "That's disgusting, Rin."

"You're missing the point!" Rin groaned. "The point is-, what the hell is that?" He had just caught sight of the plushy mass underneath Sousuke's arm and he couldn't help but be a little surprised he hadn't noticed it earlier; it was pretty big.

"Whale shark," Sousuke offered helpfully, holding it out to the cashier.

"A whale shark," Rin repeated, glancing around. "How the hell did you manage to find one of those?"

"We have a whole line of obscure marine animal toys," the cashier piped in, pointing to the far corner of the store. "It helps expose kids to animals other than seals and dolphins," she added cheerfully.

"Right, of course," Rin nodded indulgently, before turning back to Sousuke with a dry look. "Is that for Ai then?"

"No, the shark hat is for Aiichirou," he pointed helpfully at the admittedly very cute blue-grey hat sitting on the counter. "And the organizer," he pointed at the patterned box sitting next to it.

"God knows he could use it," Rin couldn't help but mutter, "But so who the hell is that for-, are you serious." He stared incredulously as Sousuke scratched his cheek nonchalantly, giving the cashier his card. "Really, Sousuke, _really_?"

"He would have gotten upset if we didn't bring him back anything," He said lightly as he gathered his bags and tucked the whale shark back under his arm, sauntering out of the store as Rin valiantly fought down an aneurysm.

"Do you hear nothing when I speak to you?!" Rin roared after him.

"We're going to miss the train!" Sousuke called back at him.

It was the water, he was sure of it now.


	2. Nagisa, Party Planner From Hell

Oh God, sorry this took an extra day, but I had to sit down and type most of it in one go, so I may have carpal tunnel now. But it's worth it, because this fic got A LOT more attention than I thought it would, and I promised an early wrap-up, and I deliver. I didn't get to reread this in its entirety before posting it, so hopefully there aren't any glaring mistakes. If there are, I'll probably come back and edit it.

All that being said, this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I intended, with a lot of more characters, so I hope I managed to live up to your expectations!

 **Disclaimer:** SouMomo would have gotten more screen time, let's be honest.

* * *

The vein in Rin's temple had begun to pound to the beat of the bass blaring from Sousuke's earphones by the time they made it to Haru's street. Nagisa had, to no one's great surprise, managed to wheedle Haru into hosting Ai's birthday party at his house. Haru hadn't even finished nodding reluctantly before Rei had hopped forward to delegate their tasks in the "most efficient manner."

Sousuke and Rin had been put in charge of the drinks, so between the two of them, they were not only hauling Ai's freshly wrapped presents, but an unnecessary amount of bottled soda, juice, and flavored water of all things. Rin suspected the flavored water was part of Makoto's desperate attempts to get Haru to expand his diet past water and mackerel, so he hadn't protested much when he saw it on the list. He was sorely regretting not putting his foot down more firmly now though, as they walked up the ridiculously steep steps to Haru's house, in the cold January air, weighed down by dozens of brightly colored bottles, that he couldn't jostle too much for fear that they would crush the tiny little bag holding Ai's strawberries.

By the time they got to the top of the stairs, he was sure he had developed a crick in his neck from holding the bags out at a forty-five degree angle the entire time and his right arm may never be the same again.

Sousuke hadn't even finished pulling his finger off the bell when the door was ripped open, and the flustered face of Ryugazaki Rei greeted them.

"There you are!" He huffed. "We were beginning to wonder if something had happened!"

"Rei was timing you," Haru's voice drifted out from somewhere further in the house, "And then Makoto started freaking out."

"Haru!" Makoto appeared behind Rei, smiling through his blush. "We were just getting a little worried that you were going to miss Nitori-kun." His gaze drifted to their awkward load. "Oh, we can take those." He swooped in and relieved them of half their burden, letting Rei take the other half. "Please make yourselves comfortable; Haru's still finishing icing the cake."

"And the mackerel," Floated back at them.

Makoto's smile didn't budge an inch. "And the mackerel," he sighed and disappeared from the doorway, leaving Rei to inspect his own bags.

"I see Nagisa-kun was thorough in his demands," he commented dryly, no doubt noticing the overwhelming amount of strawberry sodas and juices amongst the other types.

"No shit," Rin snorted, stretching out his arms as they finally got out of the cold. "He underlined and circled what he ' _really, REALLY wanted_ ' like, five times."

"It was half the list," Sousuke added, somehow managing to unwind his scarf and remove his coat without dropping the damn whale shark. Rin caught Rei eyeing it dubiously, no doubt mentally going through all the reasons why the blue toy wasn't "beautiful." Rin couldn't help but feel a little defensive or his best friend's choice. Sure, the beady black eyes and the gaping mouth were a little unsettling, but it was fuzzy and squishy looking, it was bound to make a great gift.

"We set up a gift table over there," Rei finally offered, pointing towards Haru's sitting area, where the coffee table appeared to have been overrun by an eye-searing clash of wrapped packages.

"Alright," Sousuke said, making no movement to detach himself from the stuffed toy's side.

"Ah, right," Rei coughed lightly into his fist. "I'll just be, going to set these in ice then," and he scurried off before Rin could even say anything.

"Would it kill you to talk a little?" Rin asked dryly as they stepped out of the genkan. "I think Rei thinks you're planning on killing him or something."

"You really have murder on the mind today, Rin," Sousuke cast a smile at him. "Are you sure _you're_ okay?"

Rin was seriously weighing the pros and cons of just biting Sousuke to relieve his fluctuating stress levels when he caught a whiff of a scent he actually hadn't been expecting.

"What the-,"

"Rin-senpai, Sousuke-senpai! You're finally here!" Momo skidded to a stop in front of them, beaming at the both of them but noticeably lingered on Sousuke, Rin noticed reluctantly. "We were starting to think you were going to get here after Ai-senpai!"

Now that Rin knew to look for it, he could clearly see the utterly sappy, longing look that overcame his best friend's face the minute Momo appeared. He was looking at Momo the way people looked at baby animals and miracles, soft eyes and hitching breathe and all. Rin could practically feel the cavities forming in his mouth just witnessing it.

"Momo," he tried to focus on the pressing issue at hand. "Weren't you supposed to go get Ai?" Momo was supposed to have been in charge of going to Ai's home to drag him out, but there he stood in front of them, an apron messily tied around his front with streaks of flour all over the place, even on his forehead.

"Oh, Nagisacchi went instead," Momo shrugged, unconcerned. "He said he wanted to get some strawberry shortcakes 'cause Nanase-san was only making vanilla." He brightened again. "So I stayed behind to help him."

"He was eating the frosting," Haru's disembodied voice offered again.

"Less to clean up later!" Momo called back, laughing when Haru only sighed in response. "He didn't mind," he whispered to them conspiratorially, wrinkling his nose happily.

Rin jerked his head to the side to stare at Sousuke as he started smelling overwhelmingly happy and content, like fresh laundry on a rainy day. How did everybody not notice this, he wondered incredulously. Sousuke might as well be shouting it from the rooftops with how blatantly obvious he was being.

"Did you make any mochi, Momo?" Sousuke was asking, and Rin briefly entertained the idea of slamming his head against the wall to escape this situation as Momo literally lit up like the sun.

"You bet, Sousuke-senpai! Nanase-san even taught me how to roll it better so it comes out smoother." Momo rubbed at his nose. "I'm not as good as him yet, but he said I was bound to get better if I practiced."

"Good advice," Rin muttered. "Shouldn't you be doing that, then?"

Unsurprisingly, he was ignored.

"Red bean?" Sousuke's smile only grew the more excited Momo got.

"How did you guess?" The wall was becoming more and more tempting.

Sousuke pointed at his own cheek with his free hand. "You have bean paste on your face."

Instead of getting embarrassed and running off to clean it like a normal person would, Momo only tilted his head in Sousuke's direction with a cheeky grin. "Would you get it off for me, Sousuke-senpai?"

Rin decided right then and there that Momo was obviously spending way too much time with Nagisa unsupervised, and he would have to monitor that friendship from now on.

Sousuke swiped the smear off Momo's cheek and stuck his finger into his own mouth, to Rin's great second-hand embarrassment. "Sweet," he commented after a beat, causing the omega to burst into laughter.

"Thank you, Sousuke-senpai~," he trilled, rocking back on his heels only to lean forward again as he noticed the packages they were holding. "Oh, are those Ai-senpai's gifts?" At their nods, he reached for them. "Can I see?"

"Oi, you're covered in flour," Rin held both his bags over his head and out of Momo's scrambling reach. "And they're wrapped anyway; you'll see them once Ai opens them."

"Aw, but senpai, that's going to take such a long time," Momo whined. "Ai-senpai's not even here yet!"

"Patience is a virtue," he drawled as he walked away to deposit the bag with the tracker on the table; he'd place the strawberries in Haru's fridge for the time-being. Turning around, he noticed that Momo had turned his attention back onto Sousuke.

"Sorry, Momo," Sousuke huffed a breath of laughter. "Mine's wrapped too." At Momo's deepening pout, he finally untucked the whale shark from underneath his arm. "This one's for you, though."

If Rin had thought that Momo had looked like the sun before, then he absolutely reached supernova status right in that moment. His eyes widened and actually started shining, his face flushed, and the smile that overtook his face looked painful with how wide it was.

He was halfway reaching out for it already when he paused to look back up at Sousuke in disbelief. "Really?!"

Sousuke nodded at it, his own ears bright red despite his attempts at looking cool. "I wouldn't tell you it was if it wasn't."

Momo frantically wiped his hands on his apron before practically ripping it off and grabbing the toy, hugging it tightly as he continued to stare at Sousuke as if he'd hung the stars. When he finally managed to rip his eyes away from Sousuke's he looked down at the gaping mouth and wide-set eyes and immediately laughed again. "How'd you find a whale shark?"

Of course Momo fucking knew what it was, why was Rin even surprised at this point.

"Secret," Sousuke shrugged, eyes never leaving Momo as he buried his face in the big plushy. It was easily almost the size of Momo's entire torso, Rin noted. "So. Do you like it?" Neither noticed Rin slapping a hand down his face in the background.

"I love it, Sousuke-senpai! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Momo looked up at the alpha again. "What should we name it?"

Sousuke finally looked taken aback, blinking rapidly and opening and closing his mouth without making a sound. Rin noted distantly that he and the toy matched now.

"Uh, I don't know?" Sousuke rubbed his head. "What do you think?"

"Saba," Haru called out from the kitchen. Rin was overcome with great envy for wherever Makoto and Rei had run off to hide, because they were obviously hiding, it didn't take anyone this long to set down some damn juice.

"Nah, Nanase-san, he's too big," Momo called back without missing a beat, scrutinizing the toy with that Mikoshiba squinty-eyed, scrunched mouth look on full-force. "I know! We should name him after you, Sousuke-senpai!"

"Ah, but you already named Pyunsuke after me…" Sousuke muttered, looking away for the first time since they'd arrived.

"You're right, I wouldn't want him to get jealous," Momo conceded seriously. "After me then?" He frowned thoughtfully.

"Suika, then," Rin suggested, sarcasm dripping from his words, ignoring Sousuke's dirty glare with ease. He wasn't the one being subjected to this against his will after all.

"Suika," Momo repeated slowly. "Watermelon...I like it!"

Of course he fucking did.

Momo immediately extended the freshly baptized Suika back at Sousuke. "Can you scent-mark him, Sousuke-senpai?" Momo asked bashfully. "I want him to smell like you."

Fuck this, it had officially gotten too cloyingly sweet for Rin; he had to get out.

He rushed past the two just as Sousuke reached for both Momo and Suika, pausing only long enough to scoop up Haru's spare apron on his way into the kitchen. He was thanked for his troubles with an icing spatula pointed at the hooks by the doorway.

"Well hi to you too, shit," Rin groused as he hung it up, valiantly trying to ignore Momo's giggling and Sousuke's increasingly stronger scent. "Do you have anything to make me forget all of that?" He asked with a flip of his hand back in the direction of the doorway, opening the fridge and placing the strawberries in the back.

"A rolling pin to the head," Haru offered seriously, brandishing one in a way too threatening manner.

"Ha, ha," Rin rolled his eyes, leaning against the counter to watch Haru finish the last swirl on the cake. It was, of course, a beautiful masterpiece of a cake, the likes of which would probably send culinary students weeping to pack their bags. It was huge and covered in patterns of vanilla cream frosting, swirled to look like clouds cradling the various fruits artistically scattered along the top.

"Rei insisted on having something healthy," Haru told him when he noticed his staring. "We compromised."

"I bet," Rin snorted, stealing an extra blueberry under the veil of the omega's light-hearted disapproval. They stood like that for a while, the calm silence only punctuated by the sizzling of the mackerel on the stove and occasionally, Momo's voice from outside.

"So," Haru spoke suddenly, almost causing Rin to inhale his third pilfered blueberry. "Sousuke and Momotarou, then?"

"Whoa there, _gossipy hen,_ " Rin raised an eyebrow at him. "Careful, that almost sounds like you're curious about something."

Haru just shrugged, turning his attention back to his fish. "Your old captain is his brother, right?" He didn't actually glance away from his flipping to see Rin's nod but he continued anyway, "I just wanted to know how long I had to get another black suit." He turned back to the alpha. "Are you and Sousuke going to have a joint funeral or separate ones?"

Rin was above this. That's why he only threw _one_ blueberry at Haru before finally storming off to hunt down Makoto and Rei for some sensible company.

* * *

He found them in one of Haru's back rooms, this one apparently meant to house the party because it was actually decorated. The room itself was covered in balloons, streamers, and beanbag chairs of all things, and one huge banner stretching across the length of it. It read "Happy Birthday Ai-chan!" in bubbly letters, so Rin figured they had Nagisa to thank for it. It was also as glaringly, offensively pink as half the scattered marine animal decorations hanging on the walls. He could see sharks, dolphins, penguins, otters, ducks, whales, possibly a sea urchin, and he wasn't sure, but maybe some random butterflies too. He could identify Haru's handiwork, but the colors were so offensive, that he had to look away.

Makoto and Rei themselves were standing near a television against the wall opposite the long table full of food -and a cooler brimming with the drinks, Rin noted sourly, -surrounding a bulky juggernaut of a black machine. Makoto was standing in the middle of a pile of cables with a helpless look on his face while Rei studiously ignored him in favor of a thick pamphlet and muttering under his breathe.

"What the hell is that?"

Makoto and Rei both snapped their heads up, Makoto with a look of relief, and Rei with one of confusion at his sudden appearance. Must have been an engaging read.

"Ah, Rin!" Makoto laughed lightly. "Sorry, we didn't hear you walk in. How's everything up front?"

"Haru was shopping for funeral attire and Sousuke was securing the final nails in our coffins," Rin drawled, eyes firmly on the black monstrosity. As the look of horror on Makoto's face reached new levels of intensity, he looked at Rei. "Seriously, what the hell is this mess?"

"That would be Nagisa-kun's handiwork," Rei nodded at the wall decorations. "Haruka-senpai was drawing them when Nagisa-kun decided that he wanted to, ah, _help_ ," he cringed. "I believe Momotarou-kun also colored a few."

"No, not that," Rin snapped, although he did spare a moment to be secretly thankful that Haru hadn't had a mental breakdown or something of the sort. "I meant _THAT_ thing," he pointed at the machine Makoto was using to support his apparently suddenly shaky knees.

"Ah," Rei said lightly, pushing his glasses up. "That would be the karaoke machine."

"...Why the FUCK is there a karaoke machine here," Rin could feel his blood pressure steadily rising all over again.

"Nagisa brought it," Makoto finally composed himself enough to tune back in again, although he was still looking a little pale. Haru was going to kick his ass, but Rin would worry about that later. He was still hung up on one important question.

"Where the hell did Nagisa get a karaoke machine from?"

"Well, actually, I'm not sure," Makoto looked at Rei, but he was already shaking his head.

"I just helped him carry it; I had presumed it was his."

"That thing is way too big to be a personal karaoke machine," Rin eyed it suspiciously. "Do you think he stole it?"

Makoto made a broken noise, and as Rei rushed to comfort him that there was no way someone Nagisa's stature and built could possibly steal a karaoke machine, Rin strolled over to the food table and helped himself to some matcha cake squares. He had been right, Makoto and Rei were much better company; he was feeling better already.

* * *

Eventually, Rin had been wrangled into helping them try to connect the machine to the TV and the surround sound that he had had no idea Haru actually had, what the fuck. They lost Rei to the cables at one point and Makoto somehow almost strangled himself, while Rin may or may not have lost some skin off the tips of three fingers when the devil machine sparked, but in the end, they had managed to set everything up with minimal losses.

They were just taking a step back to admire their handy work when they heard the door slam open, followed by a loud and cheery, "TADAIMA~!"

It was swiftly followed by, "I think you mean, 'pardon the intrusion.'"

Rin perked up. "Hey, Ai's finally here!" He looked at his watch and frowned. "That took longer than expected."

"At least it gave us enough time to set everything up," Makoto shrugged good-naturedly, looking nothing at all like somebody who had almost managed to kill himself with a television cord shorter than his arm no less than ten minutes ago.

"We should go greet them," Rei suggested, leading them out of the room.

Once they got to the front, they were greeted to the sight of Nagisa smiling innocently at Haru, who stood in the hallway with an unimpressed look on his face. Just behind him, Sousuke and Momo were starting to walk out of the kitchen as well, while Ai stood on Nagisa's other side, wearing an identical expression to Haru's.

Rin secretly thought exasperation looked better on Ai.

"Nagisa," Haru was saying, "How did you get in?"

"Front door," he pointed behind him. "How else would I have gotten in, Haru-chan?" He blinked beseechingly up at him. Rin didn't buy it for a second, and apparently neither did Haru.

"No one let you in, and you don't have a key," he narrowed his eyes. "Do you?"

Nagisa gasped, finally spotting the other three alphas further down the hall. "Rei-chan! Haru-chan is saying that I stole a key from him! Isn't that so mean?" Rin was tempted to applaud the kid; if he didn't know him, he might actually believe the wobbly lip and watery eyes were real. As it was, he just reeked of badly concealed amusement, and it stuck to the roof of Rin's mouth like cotton candy.

"He picked the lock," Ai jumped in before Rei could stick his foot in his mouth, trying to look disapproving, but Rin could see the sparkle in his eyes that meant he was impressed. "He did it with a bobby pin and paperclip."

"Ai-chaaaaaan," Nagisa whined, puffing out his cheeks as he deposited both of them into Haru's outstretched hand. "That's the fourth pair!"

"Wow!" Momo hopped around Haru to lean into Nagisa's personal space. Nagisa for his part just met him forehead to forehead with a giggle. "Can you teach me, Nagisacchi?"

He was met with six very firm "no's."

Rin desperately hoped this wasn't setting the mood for the rest of the party.

* * *

Once they finally managed to distract Momo and Nagisa, -Rei taking Nagisa to inspect the karaoke machine and Haru whisking Momo back into the kitchen with him, a gently amused Makoto trailing after them, - Rin finally got the chance to focus all his attention on Ai. He was wearing a grey pullover that he recognized as one of his favorites and red pants, surprisingly working well together. Adding in the pink flush on his face from being outside and the tousled hair from the wind, and Ai looked good enough to eat…

No, bad Rin, he scolded himself. You have a Plan. Stick to the Plan.

He walked up to Ai, knocking his head into his temple gently, smiling when he laughed softly.

"Hi to you too, Rin-senpai," Ai beamed up at him and Rin felt his heart give an alarming lurch.

"Right back at you," he smiled as charmingly as he could, which he liked to think was _very_. "What took you guys so long? I thought Nagisa was only going to buy some shortcakes or something." While it was true that he had spotted at least two bags bearing the crest of Nagisa's favorite bakery, there had been an additional three nondescript bags amongst them, and he had refused to give them up, scurrying off with them.

Apparently, that was the wrong question to ask though, because Ai's face immediately turned cherry red and he began to stammer.

"Ah! Um, I, uh," He pulled on the edge of his pullover, momentarily distracting Rin with a flash of collarbone. "Nagisa-san, that is, um." He squeaked. "I hear Nagisa-san calling me gotta go bye!" And he was off down the hall, the back of his red neck being the only thing Rin could see from one heartbeat to the next.

"Hey, Ai!" he blurted out, smiling crookedly when he peeked over his shoulder. "You look really good today."

Ai's flush darkened further, but instead of hiding his face he just graced Rin with another sparkling smile. "Thank you, Rin-senpai!"

And then, like the little cock-blocking troll he was, Nagisa suddenly materialized out of nowhere. "There you are, Ai-chan! Come on!" And he hauled Ai into the party room, leaving Rin with just enough time to raise his hand in a partial wave.

"You got it bad." Rin jumped and spun around to see Sousuke lounging in the doorway to the sitting area with a smirk on his face.

"The fuck, how long were you just standing there, you creep," Rin snapped, rubbing his neck.

Sousuke snorted. "The entire time; I never left. It's not my fault that you go to cloud nine every time Ai's around."

"Oi, you're one to talk," Rin crossed his arms. "You should see yourself when Momo's around." He mimicked a vacant expression. "You look like you forget anyone else even exists."

"I do," Sousuke said simply. "When he smiles, I never want him to stop, because he's breathtaking," He shrugged. "When he laughs, I want to kiss him because his happiness makes me happy and I want him to know it." He pushed off the doorframe to walk up next to Rin. "When he looks at me, nothing else matters, because this one, beautiful creature decided that _I_ was worth his attention," He smiled at Rin's wide eyed stare. "Does any of that sound familiar, Rin?"

Before Rin could even finish wrapping his mind around his words, Makoto's voice drifted out of the kitchen. "Sousuke! Could you help us, please? There's a lot of mochi and mackerel in here!"

Sousuke patted Rin on the shoulder. "Don't overthink it," he reminded him. "It's not that hard." And then he ambled off into the kitchen, leaving Rin alone in the hall.

After a beat, he finally gave up and just started knocking his head against the wall. They were so fucked. Mikoshiba was going to kill them both in a manner so painful, that Rin couldn't even imagine it, and the worst part was that Rin didn't care anymore.

He didn't care if Mikoshiba actually did mount their heads on his mantelpiece or if he skinned them alive and made them into fancy rugs, because his best friend was in love. He was in love, and if a little firecracker omega with a very -scarily- overprotective brother was what lit up his world and brought him out of his slump, then fuck, Rin would go down swinging for him.

Didn't mean he had to like it though.

"Rin-san! Please stop, you're going to lose brain cells doing that!"

Ah, saved by the Rei.

* * *

In a move that surprised absolutely no one, Nagisa swooped in and took charge of the rest of the evening. What was surprising though was that he refused to let anyone touch the karaoke machine at first.

"Nu uh," he had waggled his finger at them. "Not yet! This," he had patted it lovingly, "Is for after the presents."

"But why?" Momo had whined. "It looks like fun!"

"Because there's, _stuff_ , in it that I have to take care of first," Nagisa had sing-songed. "Aunty Nora and Mary's kind of stuff."

Momo had just continued to look confused, but Rin had started immediately choking on his sip of soda, causing Ai to start pounding on his back. Nagisa had just laughed, the little shit. Most surprising of all though, had to be the scolding he immediately got from Makoto. How Makoto knew drug slang _had_ to be an interesting story, and Rin filed that away for later usage.

So because Nagisa was actually the devil, none of them were allowed to sing Ai "happy birthday" until later -"No singing at all!" he had declared passionately, - and they skipped right to the cake.

Ai's eyes went wide and wet when Haru brought it in, and for a worrisome moment, Rin feared that he was actually going into shock.

"N-nanase-san," he gasped when it was set in front of him. "Did you make this?"

"Yes," Haru blinked at him, completely unperturbed by the show of emotion, the robot.

"It's beautiful!" Ai looked up at him, biting his lip. "You didn't have to go through all this trouble for me, I would have been happy with anything."

Haru shrugged. "It wasn't any trouble; I like baking." He smiled at him, just a little. "Happy birthday, Aiichirou."

Rin was sure that he heard Makoto sniffle, just a little.

"So what are we going to do, Nagisa-kun, if we can't sing 'happy birthday'?" Rei asked, arching an eyebrow at the blond.

Nagisa procured a fork and plate out of thin air. "Eat cake. Duh, Rei-chan."

"I agree!" Momo piped in. "The icing is delicious! I helped make it."

"You ate half of it," Haru corrected.

"But I helped make it too!"

Rin leaned over to Sousuke. "That's the love of your life, right there," he jerked his chin to where Momo was sticking his tongue out at a completely unmoved Haru. "Fish-boy's protégé."

"And there's yours," Sousuke tilted his head to the side. "Crying into the cake that Fish-boy made."

Sure enough, Ai was sitting in front of the cake with tears streaming down his face, sniffing dangerously.

"Ai! Are you okay?" Rin rushed to his side, skidding to a stop on his knees and pulling the omega to him, sniffing him for any traces of pain or sadness. All he could smell was sugar and contentment, which on Ai smelled like lilacs, so he was doubly confused. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing's wrong, R-rin-s-s-s-senpai," Ai warbled. "I'm just r-r-r-really ha-ha-happy!" He wiped at his eyes but didn't make any move to get away from Rin, so he just made himself comfortable on the floor with him.

"Thank you, everybody, for doing this for me!" Ai smiled at everyone, and how it was possible that even with red-rimmed eyes and a blotchy face Rin still thought he looked beautiful, he wouldn't be able to tell anyone.

"You don't need to thank us, Nitori-kun," Makoto smiled at him, his own eyes looking suspiciously damp to Rin. "We're your friends, and this is what friends do."

"That's right, Ai-senpai!" Momo dropped down next to him to knock his head into his temple. "We're all friends here!" He turned to Nagisa with a pout. "So we should be allowed to use the karaoke machine!"

"After presents!" Nagisa crowed, shoving another mochi into his mouth.

* * *

After everyone had had at least one slice of cake, Nagisa sent Makoto and Sousuke to go fetch the presents.

"It'll take you two the least trips," he explained, stretching out on the floor. "'Cause of your long arms."

"I think he just likes to see us sweat," Sousuke muttered to Makoto, getting an uncomfortable laugh in return as they ambled out of the room.

Rin thought about following them, if only to get Ai's strawberries out of the fridge, but he was pretty comfortable where he was. He and Ai had monopolized one of the beanbags and were curled up together, with Ai resting his head comfortably on his shoulder as they let all the cake they had eaten settle in their stomachs.

"That cake was too sweet," Rin muttered, ignoring Momo's indignant gasp and Haru's cool glower. Ai just snickered at him.

"You shouldn't have had two slices then, Rin-senpai."

"It had a nice texture," he grumbled, tickling Ai gently in the side as retribution. And if he got to enjoy the omega squirming against him, then that was just a pleasant byproduct of teaching him a lesson.

"Rei, what did you buy?" Makoto's voice interrupted them as he and Sousuke stumbled back, weighed under all the different sized packages. "Yours is the heaviest!"

"The Illustrated Introduction to Botany, of course," Rei shrugged as he and Haru helped them put them down. "All three volumes."

"Rei-chan!" Nagisa whined, slapping him on the arm. "You're not supposed to ruin the surprise!"

"What surprise, he's about to open them!" Rei protested, rubbing his arm.

"We should probably go save them," Rin mused aloud, tightening his arm around Ai's shoulders.

"Yeah."

Neither made a move to get up.

* * *

Ai ended up tearing up again as he opened their presents, but he still smelled happy, so Rin didn't freak out. Much.

Rin _had_ gotten him three, thick official looking tomes about botany, and while they looked boring as all fuck to Rin, Ai's eyes had lit up as he'd flipped through the admittedly very beautiful, glossy pictures.

"Thank you, Rei-san! I can finish my journal on the morning glory flower now!"

"Ah, but there's over one thousand flowers who share the name 'morning glory flower,'" Rei pushed his glasses up. "Are you sure-,"

"My turn~!" Nagisa sang, hip-checking Rei out of the way. "I know you're going to like this one, Ai-chan," He winked conspiratorially. "Remember though, 'sharing is caring.'"

Ai looked appropriately wary as he slowly unwrapped the box that the other omega had dumped in his lap. Rin didn't actually get to see what was in it though, because Ai had hardly eased it open before he was slamming it shut, face flaming again.

"Nagisa-san!"

"No need to thank me," Nagisa popped open his worryingly sixth strawberry soda. "And don't worry about the size; it'll fit right."

"And how could you possibly know that!"

"I looked in your bag at the last meet," the blond said unapologetically.

"How about you open the ones from me and Haru now?" Makoto interrupted, gently herding Nagisa into a beanbag chair while replacing his soda with strawberry flavored water instead. "Can you get them, Haru-chan?"

"Drop the 'chan,'" Haru rolled his eyes but brought two identically wrapped presents over.

"We bought them together," Makoto added, "So the store attendant wrapped them the same way."

"I could have just wrapped them together at home," Haru reminded Makoto.

"Married," Rin coughed into his fist.

"Oh!" Ai's exclamation covered up whatever Makoto's response would have been. He was petting a very thick yellow duffel bag. "This looks really nice, Tachibana-san!" He traced a finger along the lining. "Is this waterproof too?"

"Yeah," Makoto leaned forward a little and pointed inside. "There's also different compartments inside that'll keep your wet clothes and towels away from your dry things." He smiled at him. "I hope you can find use for it."

God bless Makoto.

"Thank you, Tachibana-san!" Ai beamed. "I'm sure I will." He started on Haru's present, and when he pulled it out, his squeak of surprise was joined by Momo's. Rin for his part couldn't quite wrap his mind around the image of Haru walking around a department store holding a bright yellow swimming parka with a duck head hoodie.

"I hope it fits right," Haru told him, nodding towards Nagisa. "He gave me your size."

"Thank you, Nanase-san," Ai breathed, still blinking at the cute duck bill on the hoodie.

"Put it on, Ai-chan!" Nagisa cajoled. To Rin's surprise, Ai actually did slip into it, almost too enthusiastically.

"Well?" He pulled the hood up and glanced out from underneath the protruding bill. "How do I look?"

Rin was pretty sure he was having a heart attack as he glanced at Ai's pretty, pretty blue eyes framed by all that soft yellow material. What a way to go.

"Urgh," he gurgled. Thankfully, Sousuke came to his rescue.

"You look adorable, Aiichirou," he assured him with a pat on the head. "Might want to pull that down so you can try on mine, though." He handed him his own presents before sitting down again.

"Thank you, Sousuke-senpai!" To his heart's great relief, Ai pulled the hoodie down, and reached into the bag, cooing as he pulled out the hat.

"Aw! This is so cute!" He immediately put it on, and Rin felt his heart leap again. God damn it. The hat was designed to look like a fat little shark was taking a bite out of the wearer's head, and it was easily the most adorable thing he had ever seen Ai wear.

Momo laughed suddenly, startling Rin out of his contemplation of Ai's wardrobe. "We had the same idea!" He plopped his present on Ai's lap. "Happy birthday, Ai-senpai! And I know it'll fit because of that time our laundry got mixed up, not 'cause I went through your stuff," he added proudly, ignoring Nagisa's hiss of " _Traitor!"_

"Thanks, Momo," Ai chuckled weakly, opening the present with Momo's help, because he apparently couldn't wait for him to do it himself.

"Ta da!" Momo said as Ai held up a grey hoodie with "SHARK BAIT" stamped across the chest. "Now you can wear it as a set!" He turned his smile towards Sousuke. "Right, Sousuke-senpai?"

"Right, Momo," Sousuke smiled dopily right back, and for his part Rin only rolled his eyes a little.

"Ai," He waited until he had the omega's full attention before he slipped the small box with the fitness tracker into his hands. "Happy birthday." His smile only widened at Ai's quiet little inhale of surprise.

"Is it a ring? Rei-chan, is it a ring?"

Rin was going to strangle Nagisa and then he was going to have "Cock-Blocker" written on his tombstone, he swore it.

"It's a fitness tracker," Rei corrected, leaning forward to look at it. "And it's a very good one. Amiigo brand. Multifunctional, good for various sports and levels of activity, including swimming. I believe this version also links to an application for mobile use," He glanced at Rin, visibly impressed. "It was a very good choice, Rin-san."

"Thanks, Rei," he rolled his eyes before turning back to meet Ai's expectant gaze. "Do you want help putting it on?"

"Yes, please," he extended his arm and Rin delicately took a hold of his wrist, taking comfort in the steady beat he could feel underneath his fingertips as he fastened the band snugly.

"Karaoke time!" Nagisa jumped up and ran to the machine, quickly followed by Momo.

"Careful, guys, it sparked earlier!" Makoto followed them.

"Firework feature, Mako-chan."

" _What?!_ "

Rin took the moment of distraction to lean closer to Ai. "Hey, I have another present for you," he whispered, "But remind me to give it you when Nagisa is distracted, alright?" The last thing he needed was Nagisa's running commentary during this.

Ai looked up at him with a tiny smirk. "Of course, Rin-senpai." He looked down at the silver band shining on his wrist and his smirk softened into a smile. "Thank you."

Rin grinned. "Any time."

* * *

Karaoke, predictably, turned into a bloodbath almost immediately.

Nagisa had wanted to play in teams initially, but then they couldn't decide on who would be on each team. Momo suggested picking team captains and letting them choose, but then Rei had sensibly argued that it'd devolve into Iwatobi versus Samezuka very quickly if they did it that way. When Makoto had just wondered why they couldn't just take turns singing for fun, Nagisa had thrown a mochi at his head.

"Don't be a wet blanket, Mako-chan," the little omega had scolded. "There's no challenge in that."

Rin, who arguably had the advantage of having heard most of everyone present sing at some point or another, outright refused to be placed on a team with Sousuke.

"There'd be no challenge then," he'd drawled, enjoying the indignant curl of Haru's brow much more than he really should have. "We'd win."

Ai had declined participating, and the only reason he got out of it at all was because it was his birthday and Nagisa was in a merciful mood.

In the end, they accepted Sousuke's sensible suggestion that they have Ai pick two people at a time, and just have that be the competition.

It somehow managed to go alright for a bit, with Momo and Nagisa going the first round against each other, both choosing some sugary pop music that really didn't require as many gyrations as it had entailed, but it hadn't been that bad. Haru co-judged at Nagisa's insistence, so that "Ai-chan wouldn't cheat and let his teammates win," and Nagisa won the first round.

The issues began once Nagisa was in the audience.

Next up, Ai had chosen Rei and Makoto. Both of them went with something a little softer, and it had actually been very nice to listen to, up until the point when Nagisa had suddenly whooped in the middle of Rei's song and tossed a ball of fabric at him, anyway.

Rei ended up losing that round, but they all agreed that it didn't count since Nagisa had tossed a pair of panties at him.

"What?" Nagisa pointed at them. "They're not _mine_. I just bought them today. Ai-chan went with me." They all turned to stare at Ai as one, watching as he pulled the shark hat down further over his red face.

"It's true, they're new," he grit out from between his teeth. "The price tags are still on all of them."

"They were on sale!" Nagisa added happily, spinning a thong around his finger. "I thought they'd add that extra rock star edge to the experience." He shook the bag a little. "Panty toss if you think the song is _really_ good, and," he pulled a bra out of one of the other bags, "Bra if it's really _REALLY_ good."

"Wait, you only thought my song was 'really good,'?" Rei asked with a frown.

"Rei!" Makoto exclaimed.

"You could use some improvement on the high notes," Nagisa told him primly before settling back onto his elbows. "Next!"

Haru and Rin went next, and out of due deference to Haru and his complete inability to add anything resembling an emotion to his tone, Rin had chosen something slower. Joke was on him though, because Haru had picked some upbeat pop number and whooped his ass.

"What the fuck, Haru?" Rin crossed his arms and scrutinized the omega as he calmly picked two pairs of panties off his head. "Do you save all your emotions throughout the year just so you can use them during karaoke or something?"

"No idea what you're talking about," Haru wandered over to Makoto's side and accepted the flavored water he gave him with a slight grimace.

After that, Ai had picked Rei to go up against Sousuke, and Rin just had to sit back and enjoy the show. Sousuke had shown no mercy, and by the middle of his song he already had most of one of the bag of panties around his feet and two bras. Rei put up a good fight, but he refused to go up against Sousuke again.

"I am not any competition for that kind of talent," he shook his head resolutely. "Haruka-senpai maybe, or Rin-san, but not me."

Makoto apparently took the lack of his name as a personal challenge because he volunteered himself next, Momo practically tripping over himself to challenge him. Ai had just let it go with a sigh. To nobody's surprise, Momo chose an actual rock song next. To everyone's surprise, the alpha also did, and he absolutely nailed it. The smug look he had at the end of the song when he picking a bra off his arm had no place on Makoto's face, but it fit the song just fine.

Things escalated after that, with Rin, Sousuke, and surprisingly Makoto going against each other more than anyone else. Even Rin had to admit that the best round had to be the one where Makoto picked another J-Rock song and Sousuke picked a ballad. Even Haru and Ai had joined in on the underwear tossing, and at the end, both alphas were covered in the entire content of all three bags, to the point that no one really knew who had won.

"Everyone won, Sou-chan," Nagisa told him solemnly as he fanned himself. " _Everyone_."

"Preach," Momo had pumped his fist into the air, yawning loudly.

Things had calmed down a little after that, with only Nagisa and Rei still messing with the karaoke machine while everyone else settled around the room. Makoto and Haru sat by Nagisa and Rei to "judge them," but to Rin they just looked like two tired parents supervising their kids, leaning against each and every so often murmuring something unheard to each other. It became obvious to Rin that they weren't even paying attention anymore when Nagisa started teasingly asking the blue-haired alpha about which pair of panties he thought would look better on him and Makoto didn't bat an eye.

Rin figured that no time was better than right then to go get Ai's last gift.

He took his time retrieving Ai's strawberries, glancing at the over the top packaging as he wandered back to the party. He wanted to do this right, but Sousuke was right too; no amount of fancy gold paper or expensive fruits would work in his favor if Ai didn't already feel something for him, if he didn't already think that Rin was worth his time.

"You look like you're thinking hard."

Rin wasn't even surprised when Sousuke appeared behind him. "Do you have some sixth sense or something?"

"About what, you angsting over Aiichirou?" Sousuke rolled his eyes. "No, chances are just high that if you're standing around looking constipated it's probably about Aiichirou."

"Asshole," Rin huffed, looking back at him. "What are you doing up here anyway?"

He held Suika up. "Momo wanted him."

"Right," Rin looked back at the strawberries in his hands. "Hey, Sousuke-,"

"He's going to love them," Sousuke interrupted him firmly, "But strawberries or not, Aiichirou is crazy about you. and he would have accepted you anyway."

"He hasn't accepted me yet, Sousuke, geez," Rin rubbed his neck, looking away.

"Rin," his best friend looked at him seriously. "Anyone with a working set of eyes and a nose can tell that Ai loves you almost as much as you love him. You two are the only ones who don't seem to be able to see it."

Well, that sounded eerily familiar. "Well, how about you?" He tilted his head back at the whale shark clutched in his hands. "Is it worth it?"

"Without a doubt," Sousuke told him steadily, his scent exuding that clean, rainy scent of determination strongly.

"Mikoshiba is going to be out for blood," Rin warned him. "Yours and mine."

Sousuke just shrugged and offered him a smile. "You're going to be his brother-in-law and I'm your best friend; he can't maim us _too_ badly."

Rin couldn't help it; he laughed.

* * *

They made it back to the party to find that Nagisa had apparently finally succumbed to all the sugar and was peacefully sleeping against Rei, who was watching some documentary about hippopotami while petting his hair.

"You can barely see the evil when he's asleep," Rin whispered to Sousuke under his breathe, snickering when Rei cast him an exasperated look.

Haru appeared to be tending to a new burn on Makoto's arm near the cooler, so that answered the question of how they got the karaoke machine unplugged.

Sousuke split off from Rin's side after giving him one last pat on the back to go pick Momo off the floor where he had been drifting off. Rin watched as he gently settled down in one of the beanbags, settling Momo comfortable against his chest and under his chin, closing his own eyes when Momo nuzzled into the scent glands there with the bridge of his nose, humming happily and hugging Suika.

Rin grudgingly admitted to himself that they looked very good together, and he had honestly never seen Momo stay so still while being awake. Maybe that could really work out for them. Or he should say, it _better_ work out for them, because his hide was on the line now too.

Shaking the thoughts of Mikoshiba's fury away, he wandered over to where Ai had wrapped himself up in the "SHARK BAIT" hoodie and had practically disappeared into his beanbag. He snickered and plopped down next to him, tossing an arm over his shoulder to bring him closer.

"Did you have fun?" He felt more than saw Ai nod his head.

"Everything was great and everyone was wonderful, even," he wrinkled his nose, "despite Nagisa-san's' presents.'"

"You never told me what it was," Rin reminded him.

"Maybe I'll show you later," Ai told him mysteriously, with a little tilt of his head. Rin liked that, he liked it a lot.

"Which reminds me," Rin let the bag dangle from one finger in front of the silver-haired omega. "Happy Birthday, Ai."

"Rin-senpai," Ai gasped, taking the bag with shaking hands. "This place is expensive!" He traced the calligraphy on the bag before looking up at Rin. "You didn't have to waste so much money for my birthday!"

"It's never a waste if it's for you," Rin snapped before sighing. "And it's not just for your birthday."

There was a beat before Ai's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh?"

"Yeah, 'oh.'"

Ai looked inside the bag, pulling out one of the perfectly dipped, fat strawberries. "Oh! Rin-senpai," he looked up at him with a smile. "I would have said yes anyway. You didn't have to get me something so expensive."

"It's tradition," he groused before he realized what he actually said. "Wait, so you're-?"

"Of course," Ai giggled. "I was just waiting for you to ask."

And of course Sousuke the damn fairy godmother was right. "Remind me that I need to get Sousuke something nice," Rin murmured as he leaned down to nuzzle Ai's cheek.

"A plane ticket out of the country might be useful," Ai suggested, "Since Mikoshiba-buchou is probably going to want to kill him for that." He nodded towards where Momo had actually fallen asleep, one hand curled in Sousuke's shirt, the other around Suika. "I'm never going to hear the end of it if he succeeds."

"Yeah, well, you'll be mate-less if he does, because I'd probably be next," Rin reminded him.

"Mm, I don't like the sound of that," Ai leaned into him. "So, plane ticket."

"Yeah, yeah," Rin rolled his eyes as Sousuke cracked his own eyes open to stare at him. "Plane ticket." His life was going to get so much harder now.

But it was worth it.

* * *

I had to add the karaoke, I wouldn't have forgiven myself if I hadn't.

And in case anyone is wondering: Nagisa totally got Ai lingerie.


End file.
